Thermal and electrical imaging of surface properties with high lateral resolution

The demand to increase the bandwidth of very large scale integrated circuits for future applications in computer and communication electronics has led to device structure dimensions in the sub-micrometer range. The ability of the device materials to withstand stress due to the growing electrical and thermal loading will be of particular importance. The design optimization as well as the material analysis thus demand analytical tools with high lateral resolution, high bandwidth capability, and high sensitivity. In this paper we demonstrate that scanning probe microscopy (SPM) employing integrated probes is a promising candidate for not only imaging topography but simultaneously electrical and thermal device properties. For voltage contrast imaging a coplanar waveguide cantilever was designed and fabricated to be used in high frequency scanning electrical force microscopy (HFSEFM). Additionally it is demonstrated that an in a tip of a cantilever probe integrated Schottky diode is useful for thermal surface imaging with highest temperature resolution in scanning thermal microscopy (SThM). The batch fabrication processes of both probes will be briefly introduced. Fabricated probes are characterized and first results obtained with these novel probes are presented